Jacob Frey
Jacob Lawrence Frey[a] (born July 23, 1981) is an American politician and attorney who has served since 2018 as the 48th mayor of Minneapolis. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, he served on the Minneapolis City Council from 2014 to 2018 and was elected mayor of Minneapolis in 2017 and reelected in 2021 and 2025.[2][3][4][5]
Born and raised in Northern Virginia, Frey attended the College of William & Mary on a track and field scholarship. He later attended law school at Villanova University.
Frey was a distance runner in college and ran professionally, ranking in prominent races and receiving an athletic endorsement. After law school, he moved to Minneapolis, where he worked as an employment discrimination and civil rights lawyer before entering politics.
Early life and education
Frey was born in Arlington County, Virginia,[6] to a Jewish family. He grew up in nearby Oakton, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C., where his parents, Christopher and Jamie (née Goldstein)[7] Frey[8] were professional modern ballet dancers. His mother is of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry, and his father converted to Judaism.[9][10]
Frey attended the College of William and Mary after graduating from high school, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2004.[11][12] While attending, he was a distance runner on the track and field team and all-Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) cross-country runner. He competed at the 2002 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships.[13][14] Frey won the 2002 CAA 5,000-meter title in track.[14]
Career
After graduating from college, Frey received a contract from a shoe company to run professionally. He ran in several marathons across the country and competed for Team USA in the 2007 Pan American Games marathon, finishing in fourth place and with his personal best marathon time of 2:16:44.[15][16][17]
Frey moved to Minneapolis in 2009 after graduating cum laude from the Villanova University School of Law and joined the law firm Faegre & Benson to practice employment discrimination and civil rights law before moving on to the law firm Halunen & Associates.[18][19][20][21] Frey gave his graduating class’s commencement speech.[11]
In late 2011, Frey ran in a special election for an open state senate seat and came in fifth in the party primary, ahead only of someone who had dropped out of the race.[22]
In 2012, Frey founded and organized the first Big Gay Race, a 5K charity race to raise money for Minnesotans United for All Families, a political group organizing for marriage equality.[23]
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Frey ran in the 2013 Minneapolis City Council election to represent Ward 3. He received the Democratic–Farmer–Labor endorsement, as well as endorsements from more than 40 elected officials and organizations.[24] His platform promised better constituent services,[24] to spur residential development,[24] increase the number and variety of small and local businesses, push for full funding of affordable housing, and address climate change. He defeated incumbent Diane Hofstede with more than 60% of the vote and took office on January 2, 2014. He served one term on the Minneapolis City Council before becoming mayor.